Terms of Service

Wed, 05/23/2012 - 00:57 -- admin

Hello! You are now reading Athens Food & Culture's Terms of Service, meaning the contract between you and Athens Food & Culture when you use Athens Food & Culture's site, services, and products. You should read this carefully before you use AthensFoodandCulture.com. We've tried to be fair and straightforward. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to email us.

1. Accepting the Terms of Service

Please read these Terms of Service, our Privacy Policy, and our Community Guidelines (collectively, the "Agreement") carefully before using athensfoodandculture.com (the "Site") and/or the other domains, products, services, and/or content provided by Colraine Publishing, Inc. (all of those collectively with the Site, the "Services") (Colraine Publishing, Inc., a Georgia corporation, collectively with its agents, consultants, employees, officers and directors, "Athens Food & Culture," "AF&C" "we," or "us"). By using or accessing the Services, you ("Subscriber" or "you") agree to become bound by all the terms and conditions of this Agreement. If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you shouldn't and aren't permitted to use the Services.

2. Modifications to this Agreement

Athens Food & Culture reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify this Agreement at any time by posting a revised Agreement through the Services and by providing notice to you that this Agreement has changed, generally via e-mail where practicable, and otherwise through the Services (such as through a notification in your AthensFoodandCulture.com Dashboard). You are responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any modifications to this Agreement. Modifications are effective when posted, and your use of the Services following any such posted modification and notice of same constitutes your acceptance of the terms and conditions of this Agreement as modified. Note that, if you have prepaid for any Paid Services (as defined below) prior to a modification of this Agreement, your use of such prepaid Paid Services is governed by the version of this Agreement in effect at the time Athens Food & Culture received your prepayment.

3. Use of the Services

Eligibility:

No individual under the age of thirteen (13) may use the Services or provide any information to Athens Food & Culture or otherwise through the Services (including, for example, a name, address, telephone number, or email address). You otherwise may only use the Services if you can form a binding contract with Athens Food & Culture and are not legally prohibited from using the Services.

Service Changes and Limitations:

The Services change frequently, and their form and functionality may change without prior notice to you. Athens Food & Culture retains the right to create limits on and related to use of the Services in its sole discretion at any time with or without notice. Athens Food & Culture may also impose limits on certain Services or aspects of those Services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Services without notice or liability. Athens Food & Culture may change, suspend, or discontinue any or all of the Services at any time, including the availability of any product, feature, database, or Content (as defined below). Athens Food & Culture may also suspend Accounts (as defined below) at any time, in its sole discretion.

Limitations on Automated Use:

You may not do any of the following while accessing or using the Services: (a) access, tamper with, or use non-public areas of the Services, or the computer or delivery systems of Athens Food & Culture and/or its service providers; (b) probe, scan, or test any system or network (particularly for vulnerabilities), or otherwise attempt to breach or circumvent any security or authentication measures; (c) access or search or attempt to access or search the Services by any means (automated or otherwise) other than through our currently available, published interfaces that are provided by Athens Food & Culture (and only pursuant to those terms and conditions), unless you have been specifically allowed to do so in a separate agreement with Athens Food & Culture, or unless permitted by Athens Food & Culture's robots.txt file or other robot exclusion mechanisms; (d) scrape the Services, and particularly scrape Content (as defined below) from the Services, without Athens Food & Culture's express prior written consent; (e) use the Services to send altered, deceptive, or false source-identifying information, including without limitation by forging TCP-IP packet headers or e-mail headers; or (f) interfere with, or disrupt, (or attempt to do so), the access of any Subscriber, host or network, including, without limitation, by sending a virus to, spamming, or overloading the Services, or by scripted use of the Services in such a manner as to interfere with or create an undue burden on the Services.

4. Registration, Athens Food & Culture URLs, and Security

As a condition to using certain of the Services, you may be required to create an account (an "Account") and select a password and Athens Food & Culture username, which will serve as a default URL of the form [username].Athens Food & Culture.com (a "Athens Food & Culture URL"). You may also select new Athens Food & Culture URLs for each blog you create.

You should provide Athens Food & Culture with accurate, complete, and updated registration information, particularly your e-mail address, and failure to do so may result in suspension of your Account.

You agree that you shall not select or use as a Athens Food & Culture URL a name of another person or entity with the intent to impersonate that person or entity or with the intent to otherwise cause confusion as to the origin or provenance of your Account. Athens Food & Culture reserves the right to refuse registration of, cancel, or modify a Athens Food & Culture URL in its sole discretion.

You are also responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Account password and for the security of your Account, and you will notify Athens Food & Culture immediately of any actual or suspected loss, theft, or unauthorized use of your Account or Account password.

5. Privacy

Any information you provide to Athens Food & Culture is subject to Athens Food & Culture's Privacy Policy, which governs our collection and use of your information. You understand that through your use of the Services you consent to the collection and use (as set forth in the Privacy Policy) of this information.

6. Content and Subscriber Content

Definitions:

For purposes of this Agreement: (1) the term "Content" means a creative expression and includes, without limitation, video, audio, photographs, images, illustrations, animations, logos, tools, written posts, replies, and comments, information, data, text, software, scripts, executable files, graphics, Themes (as defined below), and interactive features, any of which may be generated, provided, or otherwise made accessible on or through the Services; (2) the term "Subscriber Content" is all Content that is posted or otherwise provided or transferred to the Services by a Subscriber (including, without limitation, by you); and Content also includes, without limitation, all Subscriber Content.

Ownership:

Subscribers retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in their Subscriber Content, and Athens Food & Culture and/or third parties retain ownership of all intellectual property rights in all Content other than Subscriber Content.

Subscriber Content License to Athens Food & Culture:

When you transfer Subscriber Content to Athens Food & Culture through the Services, you give Athens Food & Culture a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable right and license to use, host, store, cache, reproduce, publish, display (publicly or otherwise), perform (publicly or otherwise), distribute, transmit, modify, adapt (including, without limitation, in order to conform it to the requirements of any networks, devices, services, or media through which the Services are available), and create derivative works of (including, without limitation, by Reblogging, as defined below), such Subscriber Content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating the Services in accordance with their functionality, improving the Services, and allowing Athens Food & Culture to develop new Services. The reference in this license to "derivative works" is not intended to give Athens Food & Culture itself a right to make substantive editorial changes or derivations, but does enable Athens Food & Culture Subscribers to redistribute Subscriber Content from one Athens Food & Culture blog to another in a manner that allows Subscribers to, e.g., add their own text or other Content before or after your Subscriber Content ("Reblogging").

You also agree that this license includes the right for Athens Food & Culture to make all publicly-posted Content available to third parties selected by Athens Food & Culture, so that those third parties can distribute and/or analyze such Content on other media and services.

Note also that this license to your Subscriber Content continues even if you stop using the Services, primarily because of the social nature of Content shared through the Services - when you post something publicly, others may choose to comment on it, making your Content part of a social conversation that cannot later be erased without retroactively censoring the speech of others.

You also agree that you will respect the intellectual property rights of others, and represent that you have all of the necessary rights to grant us this license for all Subscriber Content you submit to the Services.

Content License to You:

As a Subscriber of the Services, Athens Food & Culture grants you a worldwide, non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, and non-transferable license to download, store, view, display, perform, redistribute, and create derivative works of Content solely in connection with your use of, and in accordance with the functionality and restrictions of, the Services (including, without limitation, Paid Services, as defined below). This means, for example, that we license Content to you so that you can Reblog Content and add commentary to it.

Compliance with Community Guidelines:

You agree that you won't post Subscriber Content that violates, or otherwise use your Account in ways that violate, Athens Food & Culture's Community Guidelines.

Termination and Deletion:

On termination of your Account or upon your deletion of particular pieces of Subscriber Content from the Services, Athens Food & Culture shall make reasonable efforts to make such Subscriber Content inaccessible and cease use of it; however, you acknowledge and agree that: (a) caching of, copies of, or references to the Subscriber Content may not be immediately removed; (b) such removed Subscriber Content may persist in backups (not available to others) for a reasonable period of time; and (c) such removed Subscriber Content may be available (and stored on our servers) through the accounts of other Subscribers, such as because of Reblogging.

7. Special Provisions for Application Developers

If you develop software or services based on the Services or any Content, whether using the Athens Food & Culture Application Programming Interface or not, you will agree to and comply with the Athens Food & Culture Application Developer and API License Agreement.

8. Use of Trademarks

Any use of Athens Food & Culture's trademarks, branding, logos and other such assets in connection with the Services shall be in accordance with the Athens Food & Culture Trademark Guidelines.

9. Blog Themes

Athens Food & Culture makes available specialized HTML and CSS code ("Athens Food & Culture Template Code") for the design and layout of blog pages available for use on some of the Services ("Themes"). Certain Themes are available for purchase as a Paid Service (as defined below) (such Themes, "Premium Themes"). Purchased Premium Themes may not be transferred between Accounts, between blogs, or between Services on a single Account and are subject to the payment terms herein.

Athens Food & Culture grants you a license to customize the Athens Food & Culture Template Code to create your own Themes for use on your blog page (each a "Custom Theme"). If you choose, you may also contribute your Custom Themes for use by other Subscribers as Subscriber Content. However, as a condition of the license allowing you to create Custom Themes, you agree that you won't distribute such Custom Themes from locations other than Athens Food & Culture-owned or approved websites without our permission, as set out in our Community Guidelines.

Note also that other Subscribers may use your Custom Themes after you have removed them from distribution, and you hereby grant those Subscribers an irrevocable license to use those Custom Themes as contributed by you. In other words, you can remove and stop distribution of your Custom Themes, but Subscribers who are already using them can keep using them.

To develop and distribute Custom Themes that are Premium Themes, please email us.

10. Paid Services

Some of the Services require payment of fees (the "Paid Services," including without limitation Premium Themes). All fees are stated in United States dollars. You shall pay all applicable fees, as described in the applicable Services, in connection with such Services, and any related taxes or additional charges.

Paid Services are limited licenses for you to use particular for-pay aspects of the Services. Usage of terms like sell, sale, buy, purchase, or similar terms all refer to your acquisition of a license to use Paid Services, and do not represent any transfer of any right, title, or ownership interest of any kind. You may not relicense, resell, transfer, or exchange Paid Services within or outside of the Services, except as expressly allowed by the rules of the Services.

Athens Food & Culture may, in its sole discretion, modify the functionality of, or eliminate, Paid Services, or the terms and conditions under which Paid Services are provided.

Purchases of Paid Services are final and non-refundable (particularly those Paid Services that may be used immediately, such as Promotions, as defined below), except at Athens Food & Culture's sole discretion and in accordance with the rules governing each such Paid Service. Termination of your Account or your rights under this Agreement may result in forfeiture of existing Paid Services. For example, if your Account is suspended, you forfeit your license to any Premium Themes you have purchased.

Athens Food & Culture may change its prices for Paid Services at any time. To the extent applicable, Athens Food & Culture will provide you reasonable notice of any such pricing changes by posting the new prices on or through the applicable Paid Service and/or by sending you email notification. If you do not wish to pay the new prices, you may choose not to purchase, or to cancel, the applicable Paid Service prior to the change going into effect.

11. Special Provisions for Promotions

Some features of the Services may allow you to promote yourself to other Subscribers, and some of these features may be Paid Services ("Promotions"). For example, you can use Athens Food & Culture's Highlighted Post Paid Service to draw extra attention to your posts when they appear in the Dashboard feeds of your blog followers.

The following additional terms apply to Promotions:

  • Things that you promote will comply with this Agreement; if they don't, Athens Food & Culture reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel a Promotion without refund or recourse to you.
  • Athens Food & Culture may remove or disable any Promotion for any reason in its sole discretion.
  • Athens Food & Culture does not guarantee any activity that Promotions may receive, including but not limited to clicks, Likes, and Reblogs. Athens Food & Culture cannot control how Subscribers interact with Promotions and is not responsible for "click fraud" or other fraudulent actions by third parties, including, without limitation, Subscribers. Athens Food & Culture doesn't guarantee that its reporting related to Promotions will be accurate or complete, nor does it guarantee that Promotions will behave in a particular manner, and Athens Food & Culture shall not be liable to you or responsible for any erroneous reporting about or errant behavior of or related to Promotions (e.g., any errors in how "likes" or Reblogs are counted).
  • Promotions may allow targeting to some Subscriber characteristics, such as by suggesting new blogs to follow based on currently followed blogs. Athens Food & Culture does not guarantee that any particular Promotion will reach a particular sort of individual in all cases.
  • You can cancel certain Promotions at any time (depending on their functionality), but are responsible for paying for Promotions at least to the extent they have already been distributed through the Services.
  • By submitting a Promotion, you license Athens Food & Culture to run that Promotion for as long as you have specified, which, depending on the Promotion, may be perpetually. This license ends when the Promotion has completed or been cancelled, but it may take up to twenty four (24) hours before a Promotion stops being reflected on the Services.

12. Warranty Disclaimer; Services Available on an "AS-IS" Basis

Your access to and use of the Services or any Content is at your own risk. You understand and agree that the Services are provided to you on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis. Without limiting the foregoing, to the full extent permitted by law, Athens Food & Culture disclaims all warranties, express or implied, of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Athens Food & Culture makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the Services, including any representation or warranty that the use of the Services will (a) be timely, uninterrupted or error-free or operate in combination with any other hardware, software, system or data, (b) meet your requirements or expectations, (c) be free from errors or that defects will be corrected, or (d) be free of viruses or other harmful components. Athens Food & Culture also makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to Content; Subscriber Content, in particular, is provided by and is solely the responsibility of, the Subscribers providing that Content. No advice or information, whether oral or written, obtained from Athens Food & Culture or through the Services, will create any warranty not expressly made herein.

13. Release From Liability

You release, to the fullest extent permitted by law, Athens Food & Culture, its directors, officers, shareholders, employees, representatives, consultants, agents, suppliers, and/or distributors from responsibility, liability, claims, demands, and/or damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, arising out of or in any way connected with the following:

  • Disputes between Subscribers, including those between you and other Subscribers.
  • Third party sites and services, including content found on such sites and services.
  • Disputes concerning any use of or action taken using your Account by you or a third party.
  • Claims relating to the unauthorized access to any data communications or Content stored under or relating to your Account, including unauthorized use or alteration of such communications or your Content.
  • Claims relating to in any way to any face-to-face meetings in any way related to Athens Food & Culture at any venues ("Meetups"), including without limitation claims related to the actions or omissions of any Subscribers or third parties who organize, attend, or are otherwise involved in any Meetups. Athens Food & Culture does not sponsor, oversee, or in any manner control Meetups.

If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code §1542, which says: "A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor."

14. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Athens Food & Culture, its directors, officers, shareholders, employees, representatives, consultants, agents, suppliers, and/or distributors shall not be liable for: (a) any indirect, incidental, exemplary punitive, or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever; (b) loss of: profits, revenue, data, use, good-will, or other intangible losses; (c) damages relating to your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services; (d) damages relating to any conduct or Content of any third party or Subscriber using the Services, including without limitation, defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct or Content; and/or (e) damages in any manner relating to any Content. This limitation applies to all claims, whether based on warranty, contract, tort, or any other legal theory, whether or not Athens Food & Culture has been informed of the possibility of such damage, and further where a remedy set forth herein is found to have failed its essential purpose.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the total liability of Athens Food & Culture and its directors, officers, shareholders, employees, representatives, consultants, agents, suppliers, and/or distributors, for any claim under this Agreement, including for any implied warranties, is limited to the greater of fifty dollars (US$50.00) or the amount you paid us to use the applicable Service(s).

15. Exclusions to Warranties and Limitation of Liability

Some jurisdictions may not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the exclusion/limitation of liability as set forth in Section 14, so the limitations above may not apply to you.

16. Termination

Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time by notifying the other party. Athens Food & Culture may also terminate or suspend your access to or ability to use any and all Services immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason or no reason, including but not limited to if you breach any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement. In particular, Athens Food & Culture may immediately terminate or suspend Accounts that have been flagged for repeat copyright infringement.

Upon termination of your access to or ability to use a Service, including but not limited to suspension of your Account on a Service, your right to use or access that Service and any Content will immediately cease. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability. Termination of your access to and use of the Services shall not relieve you of any obligations arising or accruing prior to such termination or limit any liability which you otherwise may have to Athens Food & Culture or any third party.

17. Legal Disputes

You and Athens Food & Culture agree that we will resolve any claim or controversy at law or equity that arises out of this Agreement or the Services in accordance with this Section or as you and Athens Food & Culture otherwise agree in writing. Before resorting to litigation, we strongly encourage you to contact us directly to seek a resolution.

Law and Forum for Legal Disputes:

This Agreement shall be governed in all respects by the laws of the State of New York as they apply to agreements entered into and to be performed entirely within New York between New York residents, without regard to conflict of law provisions. You agree that any claim or dispute you may have against Athens Food & Culture must be resolved exclusively by a state or federal court located in New York County, New York, except as otherwise agreed by the parties. You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the courts located within New York County, New York for the purpose of litigating all such claims or disputes.

18. Miscellaneous

This Agreement, as modified from time to time, constitutes the entire agreement between you and Athens Food & Culture with respect to the subject matter hereof. This Agreement replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding the subject matter hereof and constitutes the entire and exclusive agreement between the parties. The failure of either party to exercise in any respect any right provided for herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder. If any provision of this Agreement is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. This Agreement is not assignable, transferable, or sublicensable by you except with Athens Food & Culture's prior written consent. Athens Food & Culture may assign this Agreement in whole or in part at any time without your consent. No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of this Agreement and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind Athens Food & Culture in any respect whatsoever. Any notice to Athens Food & Culture that is required or permitted by this Agreement shall be in writing and shall be deemed effective upon receipt, when delivered in person by nationally recognized overnight courier or mailed by first class, registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, to Colraine Publishing, Inc., PO Box 49413, Athens, GA 30604, Attn: Legal Department.

19. Special Provisions for Subscribers Located Outside of the United States

Athens Food & Culture provides global products and services and enables a global community for individuals to share and follow the things they love. Athens Food & Culture's operations are, however, located in the United States, and Athens Food & Culture's policies and procedures are based on United States law. As such, the following provisions apply specifically to Subscribers located outside of the United States: (1) you consent to the transfer, storage, and processing of your information, including but not limited to Subscriber Content and any personal information, to and in the United States and/or other countries; and (2) if you are using the Services from a country embargoed by the United States, or are on the United States Treasury Department's list of "Specially Designated Nationals," you agree that you will not conduct any commercial activities using or through the Services (for example, purchasing Premium Themes).

20. DMCA Copyright Policy

Athens Food & Culture has adopted the following policy toward copyright infringement on the Services in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (a copy of which is located at http://www.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/dmca.pdf, the "DMCA"). The address of Athens Food & Culture's Designated Agent for copyright takedown notices ("Designated Agent") is listed below.

Reporting Instances of Copyright Infringement:

If you believe that Content residing or accessible on or through the Services infringes a copyright, please send a notice of copyright infringement containing the following information to the Designated Agent at the address below:

  1. Identification of the work or material being infringed.
  2. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing, including its location, with sufficient detail so that Athens Food & Culture is capable of finding it and verifying its existence.
  3. Contact information for the notifying party (the "Notifying Party"), including name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.
  4. A statement that the Notifying Party has a good faith belief that the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or law.
  5. A statement made under penalty of perjury that the information provided in the notice is accurate and that the Notifying Party is authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the copyright owner.
  6. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that has been allegedly infringed.

After removing material pursuant to a valid DMCA notice, Athens Food & Culture will immediately notify the Subscriber responsible for the allegedly infringing material that it has removed or disabled access to the material. Athens Food & Culture reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to immediately terminate the account of any Subscriber who is the subject of repeated DMCA notifications.

Submitting a DMCA Counter-Notification:

If you believe you are the wrongful subject of a DMCA notification, you may file a counter-notification with Athens Food & Culture by providing the following information to the Designated Agent at the address below:

  • The specific URLs of material that Athens Food & Culture has removed or to which Athens Food & Culture has disabled access.
  • Your name, address, telephone number, and email address.
  • A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or the federal district courts located in New York County, New York if your address is outside of the United States), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided the original DMCA notification or an agent of such person.
  • The following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled."
  • Your signature.

Upon receipt of a valid counter-notification, Athens Food & Culture will forward it to Notifying Party who submitted the original DMCA notification. The original Notifying Party (or the copyright holder he or she represents) will then have ten (10) days to notify us that he or she has filed legal action relating to the allegedly infringing material. If Athens Food & Culture does not receive any such notification within ten (10) days, we may restore the material to the Services.

Designated Agent

Colraine Publishing, Inc.
PO Box 7433
Athens, GA 30604
Attn: Copyright Agent
Fax: +1-706-340-6527
Email: editor@athensfoodandculture.com